Apr 13, 2022
I was really excited for this when it was first announced. I then watched it weekly, to completion. And then at some point forgot that I'd completed it and watched the whole second back half again, picking up on the last memorable episode, and wondering, "Have I seen this?" It was only on the second time watching the last episode that I could be sure I'd seen the whole show already.
The original Puella Magi Madoka Magica is special to me, as I know it is to a lot of anime fans. For me when I think back on the show, what sticks best in
...
my mind was the powerful music and the jaw dropping mixed media elements of the show. I LOVED seeing that combination of master craft juxtaposed with weirdly proportioned character designs and often goofy looking animation of the Magical Girls [which is, I know, it's own kind of master craft but one found more often in anime then the sprawling audio visual delights of the Witch's labyrinths]. I was excited to see more of that. However, the flat looking, mostly 3D rendered appearance of the few looks we get at labyrinths are simply not up to par with the "I grabbed a stack of old magazines and crafted every element of the background and villain" look that the first show had. And by nature of there needing to be so many freaking characters because Magica Record was based on a gacha game I feel like the way the show was written made it impossible to care about the girls as much as I care about the original 5 girls.
In Summary: There was an opportunity for this show to be really good. It had some interesting ideas on how to expand on one of my favorite anime, however, it was so utterly forgettable that I literally forgot that I had had already watched the whole thing and ended up watching the second half a second time before realizing this. The show is unfortunately visually dull, lacked character depth, and was literally forgettable.
Overall: 4/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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